Makinde Oluseyi Abiodun

Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde (born 25 December 1967) is a Nigerian engineer, businessman, and politician who has served as the governor of Oyo State since 2019. He is an engineer and a subject matter expert on fluid and gas metering. He is the group managing director of Makon Group Limited; an indigenous oil and gas company in Nigeria.

He established his first oil and gas private business called Makon Engineering and Technical Services, (METS) at the age of 29 in the year 1997, after earning years of work experience with international oil and gas companies.

Makinde had contested for the 2015 Oyo State gubernatorial election on the platform Social Democratic Party (SDP) but lost. Makinde was born to a teacher turned accountant, Pa Olatubosun Makinde, and Abigail Makinde of Aigbofa Compound in Oja'ba, Ibadan, Oyo State. He is the third child of the family.

Makinde began his education at St Paul Primary School and completed his primary education at St Michael Primary School, Yemetu, Ibadan. His secondary education was at Bishop Phillips Academy, Monatan, Ibadan. In 1985, he gained admission to the University of Lagos (Unilag) where he earned his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering.

In 1998, Makinde trained at Industrial Control Services in Houston, Texas on Safety Shutdown System; and Development of Analytical Competence for Managing Operations at Lagos Business School (now Pan-Atlantic University) in 1999. In 2000, he had training in automation. In 2002, he studied Fundamentals of Crude Sampling at Jiskoot Auto Control Training Centre, Kent, England.

Also, in 2005, Makinde studied Understanding and Solving Complex Business Problems at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. Makinde did his national service (NYSC) with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria, where he was later engaged as a pupil engineer. He served in different capacities; handling and partaking in several key projects between 1990 and 1992.

From 1992 to 1997, he worked as a field engineer (Eket operations) for Rebold International Limited and in 1995, he was appointed as Field Manager in the same company. In 1997, Makinde established his first business, Makon Engineering and Technical Services Limited (METS), after working for five years (1992-1997) with various international oil and gas companies (IOCs) as the Engineering Manager.

He is now the group managing director of Makon Group of Companies. Makinde is a member of national and international professional bodies, including Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Council for Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Oil and Gas Design Engineers of Nigeria (OGDEN), International Society of Automation (ISA), Institute of Measurement and Control UK, and American Measurement Institute (AMI).

In 2007, Seyi Makinde contested for the Oyo South Senatorial seat under the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and lost to Kamoru Adedibu of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). In 2010, under PDP, he contested for the Oyo South Senatorial seat but lost the primary election to the incumbent.

In 2014, Makinde aimed for the Oyo State 2015 governorship ticket under PDP but was denied the nomination. He later defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP), contesting in the 2015 election, finishing third with over 50,000 votes.

After returning to PDP in 2017, he was nominated as the gubernatorial candidate in 2018, winning the primary election with 2,772 votes. He won the 2019 general election, securing 515,621 votes against Adebayo Adelabu of APC, who got 357,982 votes.

He was sworn in on 29 May 2019, succeeding Senator Abiola Ajimobi. In 2022, he declared his intention to seek a fourth term if the people of Oyo State desired it. He won the 2023 election, polling the highest votes against Teslim Folarin (APC) and Adebayo Adelabu (Accord).

Makinde received awards such as the Nigerian Union of Journalists Merit Award, National Association of Oke-Ogun Students Merit Award, Fiditi Grammar School Old Student Merit Award, JCI University of Calabar Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria Gold Merit Award, Nigerian Association of Social Workers Merit Awards, CCII National Merit Award, and was named 'Astute Politician of the Year 2018' by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

He lives in Ibadan, Oyo State, and is married to Tamunominini Makinde, with three children.